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How One Diet Cheat Day Every Single Week Can Promote More Weight Loss

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Up until about a month ago I have never used a diet cheat day when my goal was to lose weight. I had read mixed reviews and opinions concerning whether or not they were actually effective for weight loss. More often than not, when I did read a positive take on diet cheat days it was based around muscle building and not weight loss. This gave me even more reason to believe that cheating on your diet was a BAD thing. My opinion has changed.

mmm, pizza – my favorite cheat day diet food! We’ll talk more about this in just a minute.

Dieting CAN be hard work. Also, there are so many different approaches out there that it can be just as hard work to pick one. There is one universal approach though. The one thing that most diets are based around is creating a calorie deficit. After all, eating less calories than you consume is a PROVEN and undeniable way to lose weight.

In the past I have lost weight following Eat Stop Eat with great results. I could eat virtually whatever I wanted without counting calories and lose weight. Sounds good, I know. More recently though, I’ve been testing out a “new” method for losing weight. Yes, if you’ve read my last couple of blog posts you’ll know that the “new” method of losing weight that I have been following is good old-fashioned low calorie diet … I am even counting my calories.

How Diet Cheat Days Are Good For Fat Loss

To be fair, I’m not going to say that counting calories is BETTER than following Eat Stop Eat. In fact, I have still been using the ESE along with my calorie counting.

The main idea behind ESE is that you are creating a calorie deficit over the course of the week … not each day. Some days you will eat above maintenance, others you will eat well below. At the end of the week though, you will have eaten under your caloric requirement if you didn’t pig out on feeding days.

So what does this have to do with cheating on your diet every week? Instead of eating a little looser than normal throughout the week and then relying on my two fasting days to make up for some extra calories, I have been counting calories throughout the week.

The problem here is that the body adapts to living off of fewer calories. Dieting and following a low calorie plan actually makes your body less efficient at burning fat from week to week. Why?

Your levels of Leptin decrease (lessens fat burning)

T3 & T4 thyroid hormones decrease (slows metabolism)

Ghrelin increases (increases hunger)

Cortisol increases (believed to cause belly fat)

Metabolic rate decreases

Yes, dieting is terrible. BUT, there is an solution. High fat and high glycemic carb cheat days fix everything … seriously.

You don’t have to eat “cheat foods” if you don’t want to. You can consume extra fat and high glycemic carb foods however you choose. It is important that you get enough though. For me, I’ll stick to my fav’s … nachos & pizza.

Do You HAVE To Cheat On Your Diet?

The truth is, no. Although your body does continually get worse and worse at burning fat after being on a diet, you do not HAVE to cheat on your diet to lose weight. You can stick with eating low calories and suffering through every week without let up … it is possible and many have done so and continue to do so. Your body will not completely shut down fat burning. It will come off eventually.

My question though, is why would you do so? I get it, trust me. You feel guilty after the day has ended. One or two days afterwards you start to second guess yourself, wondering if you made a HUGE mistake.

Depending upon your body’s response time though, guess what. Two or three days later you weigh LESS than before your cheat day. This is real. This actually happens. Over the course of the last 5 weeks I’ve seen this to be true EVERY SINGLE time.

Guidelines To Ensure Your Cheat Day’s Maximum Effectiveness

There are a few things that I have been doing that make my cheat day an almost guaranteed success.

Guideline #1: Don’t over drink. This is horrible news as well, I agree. Unfortunately all of the good hormonal effects that a cheat day brings on … alcohol cancels out. If you are going to over drink … skip the cheat day or you WILL gain weight.

The general consensus is that “over drinking” (as far as diet cheat days go) is more than one drink. Basically, if you can feel it at all, you’ve had too much. Me personally, I don’t drink any alcohol at all … and I am a big fan of beer. When it comes to shedding fat though, you’ve got to decide what you want more. Once you get to maintenance, beer in moderation is fine.

Guideline #2: Fast directly after your cheat day. This is actually probably less important than guideline #1 but I really like this one. The BEST day for a fast, or even a low calorie day in general, is directly after a high calorie day.

Not only is a 24 hour fast easier after having eaten all of your favorite foods and after having satisfied any cravings … it’s more effective.

Also, it helps even out the calories for the week. Say you are eating strict diet of 1,500 calories per day. Your body is feeling the pangs and you decide to reset your body’s fat burning ability and metabolism with a much deserved diet cheat day on Saturday. That bumps your projected calories up considerably.

But, if you cut out two meals and eat a good “diet dinner” on Sunday you have only added 500 calories extra to your whole week. In the end, these extra 500 calories are NOT going to stunt weight loss either.

Monday – 1,500 calories

Tuesday – 1,500 calories

Wednesday – 1,500 calories

Thursday – 1,500 calories

Friday – 1,500 calories

Saturday – 3,000 calories

Sunday – 500 calories

In addition to the calories being getting leveled out for the week, you get all of the benefits of the fast. If you haven’t seen this video about the similarities in fasting and exercise check it out real quick.

Guideline #3: Don’t go to extremes! For many the thought of a CHEAT DAY means one thing … go all out. That is not the case.

While it is okay, and in fact good, to eat anything you want, don’t STUFF your face. Eat until you are full. Do not eat until you are full and then move onto your next meal because it’s something different and you want to get as much food down as you possibly can.

23 Comments

Jonathan
Feb 10, 2012 @
23:39 pm

Very good post on an interseting subject. Nice that you made an entire post out of my question on FB, talk about quick service Have you taken a look at Joel Marions fatloss 24/7? A major part of that program is cycling in fast days directly efter cheat days. Keep up the good work!

I can’t trust myself with a cheat day. I have used the eat stop eat program combined with calorie counting and got great results. As soon as I cheat with some thing I just want more of it. Some cheat days happen but I don’t schedule them on purpose. I do find that a fast after them gets me back to where I was.

It can be tricky, that’s for sure. Whenever I’m shooting for a goal I am pretty determined. The cheat day STILL makes me feel guilty and second guess myself … even though I know it’s a good thing. After a cheat day I’m looking forward to getting back on track. Yes, fasting days really help get you going again.

Absolutely! I know I look forward to my diet cheat day every week. Funny thing is that I usually look forward to it being over with as well. After eating “good” for any length of time you can notice your body doesn’t really like “bad” food as much. I like it, just not my body

can your cheat day be any day of the week! I am stuck not loosing. Took me like three months to loose ten pounds. I want to loose another 20lbs but I just stop loosing weight and I am eating healthy. My diet consists of protein shakes, vegetables, chicken, fish and eggs. no carbs.

Sharon,
Your food choices sound great so, yeah … you can cheat any day of the week. My only advice would be to not cheat more than once every 7 days. I have known some guys who get away with as many cheat days as once every 5 days but I recommend every 7.

Random question for you, I exercise at least 5/6 (sometimes twise a day) a week so not sure fasting is a good idea! But this week I have been injuried and have eaten 2 cheat days (approx 10 biscuits, with about 70/80 kcal each one)! Does this mean I should leave a ‘cheat day at all next week’? Does those cheat days effect my weight a lot? as it keeps playing on my mind! I would appreciate it if you could please give me a few tips, Many thanks Tez

Hi, i usually eat between 500-700 calories in the week sometimes less sometimes more but never more than 1200 in the week and once a week i sort of binge on a load of crap, i dont count the calories but its probably somewhere around 3000? Will this make me gain weight or get fat or whatever? Thanks xx

Hi I eat 3 times a day of healthy meals (I don’t know the calories) and exercise 3 times a week. Can I have a cheat meal once a week and if so how should I have it without starving the next day bc thts not for me.

Hey,
I wanted to know if I should have my cheat day on my rest day or on a day when I work out?
Great post by the way ! Helped me a lot ! I used to feel guilty about having cheat days so I used to diet for months and then I binge eat and ruin everything. You really helped me

I have a question! I am using a nutritionist to cut weight for a powerlifting meet. I haven’t had a cheat in 7 weeks so he finally gave me one! My weight was 120 the day of my cheat and the day after I was 125! Day 2 is here and I am still 125! I have 6 weeks to make the 114 weight class so I amfreaking out now. He keeps telling me I will be fine but what do you think? I am extremely bloated and sweat constantly now so I think my body is confused with this bad food. For my cheat I had a nice steak dinner with potatoes and a brownie sundae. I appreciate your help!!! I am so worried now . Although I deserved it I feel I made a huge mistake!

Heh, I’ve already been doing this.
I know what the commenter means about the body not liking “bad” food so much any more. I was surprised because I looked forward to my cheat day, only to find it didn’t last too long before I was stuffed and lost interest in eating anything else. That’s a good weird!!!
.. I fast for 1 – 2 days after my Sunday cheat, then weigh in on Wednesday, as well as resuming normal feed (up to 1500 calories a day). The result (as well as daily 5 minutes of low-impact, easy cardio) after 2 months is a 20 lb-loss.